A Stranger With God

"Hear my prayer; O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were." - Psalm 39:12


 

"I am a stranger with thee..."

Does this describe your fellowship with Jesus Christ?  Even though we have trusted Christ as our Savior, I'm afraid that many of us are strangers when it comes to our fellowship with Him.  I do not mean strangers in the sense that Christ does not know us or who we are, but rather that we do not spend intimate time with Him the way we should.  There are many people that we may know who they are and maybe even know a little about them, but in reality they are strangers to us.  Sadly, this describes many of us when it comes to Jesus Christ.  We are strangers with Him.

I can't help but be convicted about my lack of prayer and intimate fellowship with Christ.  I believe this is the state of most Christians today in that we are seriously lacking in our prayer life and intimate fellowship with Christ.  Simply put, we are not spending time with Christ the way the disciples and the early Church did.  It seems that our churches as a whole and us as individuals know very little of the power that the early Church had because of their time spent in prayer declaring their utter and complete dependence on the Lord.

One area pastor made the following statement: "You can have as much of God as you want, and that you already have as much of God as you want."  I can honestly say that I want to have more of Christ, I want to know Him in a more intimate way, I want His presence to more real to me, and I want to see a glimpse of His glory!

I am challenging myself and you to develop a life of prayer declaring your absolute, complete, and total dependence upon Christ for every need in our lives.  May we cry out to the Lord to work in our lives, homes, and churches in such a mighty way that He will draw others unto Him.  May we not be strangers with Christ in our prayer life or our intimate fellowship with Him. 

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, may I not be a stranger with Thee.  I pray that I can have more of You, that I can know You in a more intimate way, and that Your presence will be more real to me each day.  Help me to totally, completely, and absolutely cry out to You and depend on You for everything!  It is my desire to develop of a life of prayer and intimate fellowship with You.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Be With Him

"And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.  And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach." - Mark 3:13-14


What do you think our primary responsibility is as a child of God?  Most Christians would probably say that it is to be a witness for Christ.  Most preachers would probably say for them it is to preach the Word of God.  However, both of these answers would be wrong.  Notice what the Bible says in the above verses.  Our first call and responsibility is to be with Christ, preaching is secondary.  We can't be a witness or preach His Word until we have been with Him.

Just think about it, the Creator of everything, the Savior of the world, His desire is to be with us!  That is such an awesome thought!  Have you been with Him lately?  Maybe you are facing a trial or difficult situation today and don't know what to do, just be with Him.  Maybe you are in total despair and are ready to throw in the towel, just be with Him.

I can't help but wonder how different our lives would be if we would just be with Him more.  Think of the impact it would have on our spiritual walk.  Think of the difference that we would be able to make in the lives of others as a result of us being with Him more.  Witnessing is not the most important thing that we can do, preaching is not the most important thing we can do, the most important thing is for us to be with Him.

When was the last time that you were just with Him?

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, help me to remove all of the cares of this world and burdens from my heart that I might just be with You.  It humbles me that Your desire is for me just to be with You.  Forgive me for putting other things ahead of You and failing to just be with You.  Father, I pray that You would make Your presence so real to me today as I am with You.  In Jesus name, Amen!

Starting Your Day With God

Recently I started reading the book Transformational Church by Thom Rainer and Ed Stetzer.  As I was reading a few days ago, the Lord spoke to my heart about using my blog for prayer and devotion.  So, here we go as we start on this journey.  I pray that it will be a blessing and help to us all in our walk with Jesus Christ.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me." - Exodus 20:3

I would like to start off by sharing a few thoughts about starting our day with God.  How do you start your day?  Do you get up enough early enough to spend time with God in prayer and His Word?  Most of us if we are honest would have to say that we sleep to the last possible moment and then spend our mornings rushing around while leaving us no time for spiritual matters.  Is it any wonder why we struggle to make it through our days when do not get the proper start to each day by spending time with Christ?

Here is another question to ponder.  When it comes to spending time with the Lord, are you a person who squeezes God into your busy schedule with an occasional prayer before your meals and a visit to church on Sunday mornings?  I'm afraid that this is where most of us are at in our spiritual walk with Christ.  We just try to squeeze Him into our already busy and hectic schedules and then our flesh says "You have done your part."

I would like to challenge you to start your day with God by spending at least five minutes each day in devotion, prayer, and fellowship with Him.  I think that five minutes each day is a great place to start, but that is exactly what it is, a place to start.  As we continue on this journey, we should find ourselves spending more time each day with our Lord Jesus Christ.  As you begin each day, use this time to align your priorities with the teachings and commandments of God's Word.  Making the effort to spend quality time with God every day will change your life!

Prayer For Today:

Heavenly Father, I desire You to reign over every corner of my heart.  I will have faith in You, I will trust Your will, and I will praise You for who You are.  Help me Lord to start each day right by spending time with you in prayer, devotion, and fellowship.  In Jesus name, Amen.